Bok game plan needs more balance
26 Nov 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in his weekly Business Day newspaper column, says the Springboks have no attack and that has to be the focus next year if they are to take on a New Zealand side playing at a pace never seen before.
The aim within the Springbok squad was to win three matches on tour and show the defensive qualities that win World Cup finals. On the surface then, the tour will be viewed as a major success.
The Boks won all three Tests and conceded just one try. Once again they looked impotent with the ball in hand, but this seemed a secondary concern for the coach, captain and squad. They left London as winners.
Only, to win the World Cup in 2015 and win the Rugby Championship in between, the Boks will need greater innovation on attack and a shift in mindset that recognises the need for more balance between attack and defence, and the need for some home truths.
Ireland, Scotland and England are not the measurement of world rugby, and to be the best South Africa have to usurp New Zealand, who currently are playing the game at a pace never seen before, and with a balance in attack and defence that is the envy of every other international team.
The All Blacks leak more tries than the Boks, but they also score more. The All Blacks on their most recent tour have exposed more youngsters to Test rugby, evolved their depth in most positions and still won convincingly. The Boks, in three Tests, picked the best available every time, and some in the squad never got a minute’s game time. Each to their own, but to deny the flaws in Bok rugby at present would be to deny the obvious.
Defence has always been a strength of good Bok teams, but then so has attack. This team currently has no attack and that has to be the focus next year. If not, the Boks will again be a tenacious opponent applauded for character. They will not be the kind of opponent feared because of enterprise.
The Boks never looked like losing at Twickenham against a home side even more inept when it comes to attack. England will always be physical, always be determined and always be a difficult opponent at Twickenham.
The margin of victory was only a point but it may well have been 20. England, with 60% territory and 60% possession, never had the capacity to unlock the Bok defence. Again, they are not the measurement.
The more accurate match to reflect on has to be the All Blacks dismantling of the Boks at Soccer City a few months ago. The All Blacks scored four tries within 50 minutes and asked questions of the Bok defence to which South Africa had no answer.
If the aim is to be a top-three team with the occasional win against the best, then you can’t fault Heyneke Meyer and his Boks this year. If this crop of Boks do have greater ambition, then there has to be greater introspection about an inability to turn dominant periods of play into tries.
If you want to attack the limitations of the Boks in 2012, there is enough to make a convincing argument. If you want to make a case for bravery, commitment and a season that was reasonably successful, you would also find enough for a winning argument.
It all comes down to the interpretation of ambition.
As I write every week, there will always be hope in and for South African rugby, because of good playing numbers. But to set a standard is to take a risk, and in Meyer’s first season there have been few risks taken.
That has to change if the Boks are to be seeded second, with the capacity of being first, or to be second among a group with no prize of toppling the All Blacks.
Meyer will have an easier summer break because of the three tour wins, but I sincerely hope he also has an introspective one. There has to be honesty about the season, which was acceptable without being exceptional.
This squad are being characterised on their ability to defend, but there is just too much defensive in everything about this team, be it in performance or when questioned on performance. Injury to players is presented as a defence to any question that is interpreted as criticism, but only 15 players get to start, and in many positions those currently playing would again be selected — ahead of unavailable players of more experience.
Naturally, the Bok team at Twickenham would be strengthened when Frans Steyn, Bryan Habana and Johan Goosen are again available, and there would be more depth to the forwards when Bismarck du Plessis, Andries Bekker, Schalk Burger, Pierre Spies and Juan Smith are fully fit.
But the core of what constitutes the best team was at Twickenham, and for this best team to mature into a team capable of being the best in the world, there has to be greater cross-examination and less defensiveness about the obvious shortcomings of the year.
117 Comments
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26 Nov 2012, 09:45 am
Gameplan sucks dragon balls!
26 Nov 2012, 09:55 am
While I can understand the hype, I really don’t see what Goosen has done to indicate he should start at 10 for the Boks?
Oozes potential, but he’s still needs to prove himself more in the S15 IMO.
26 Nov 2012, 10:05 am
@Bagel-2: He seems a bit frail, perhaps he needs more time at currie cup and super level, he just gets injured too quickly. As an aside I’m still not convinced about Lambie at test level, I understand the argument at currie cup but at test level his mercurial talent is not of standard.
26 Nov 2012, 10:08 am
Fact is, the only test this year where Boks attacked effectively was with Goosen at 10(OZ test in Pretoria). Any comments ?
26 Nov 2012, 10:09 am
RT @keocoza: Bok game plan needs more balance: MARK KEOHANE, in his weekly Business Day newspaper column, says the Springb… http://t.c …
26 Nov 2012, 10:14 am
@groel-4: I believe the following week they were up against the Blacks in Soweto and got a whipping in front of a home crowd. And to give these Aussies a rogering is not a recommendation of Bok attacking prowess rather that the Wallabies are totally woeful. The Boks need to play France to see where they really stand in world rugby.
26 Nov 2012, 10:15 am
@Bagel-2: Easy. In the one game that he played, Goosen did something no SA no10 could do for the last 8 years.
Proof himself more in S15? Goosen was the best no10 in the S15 before his injury. In fact. It took the others 4 weeks after his injury to reach equal his stats. So, yeah. We all want to see a good S15 from him next year, but he has done enough to show he is our best option. The only one close to him is Jantjies.
Lambie simply showed this tour that No10 is NOT his position. He seemed out of his depth and he’s obviously not the type of player that makes decisions on his own. He is a brilliant player, but he needs to be given freedom… in other words: less expectation and much less responsibility. No12 is his position. If Goosen can put him into space, he will shine! Although De Jongh is a definite option at 13 when Goosen feeds the backline, I expect Rhule to be the future at 13. But that will probably only happen in 2014.
26 Nov 2012, 10:17 am
@groel-4:
Oz team ravaged by injuries in that game,had 5/6 injuries in that game alone. Take that game with a large pinch of salt
26 Nov 2012, 10:27 am
Goosen is the most naturally gifted flyhalf i have seen SA produce in my lifetime.
miles ahead of everyone else.
we need him to get strong.
26 Nov 2012, 10:29 am
@mpundulu: True, thanks for the insight, but when Goosen got injured in the game against all blacks, they immediately attacked his channel and gained momentum. Tautes lack of experience at 13 was the weakest link in the second half rout. Theres no ways they would have broken the line out wide as easily had someone like J Fourie been there. At present thats the all blacks biggest weapon,
they hit the outside channel with venom, with backup support for the tackle offload. and no more defence thereafter to the try line. Once they get those quick tries, the game is so easy for them to control.If the boks can figure out a way to nullify that, we can bring them back down to earth. Any comments?
26 Nov 2012, 10:41 am
NZ have three back-ups in every position — all test-hardened.
26 Nov 2012, 10:44 am
@groel-9: The ABs attacked his channel from the beginning, this wasn’t clear in the first 30 mins as the boks had forward ascendency, the ABs had to absorb a lot of pressure. In consideration of defensive formations, the ABs employ a stretch or spread attack, they move you from one side of the pitch, then to the other, and then again but the last stretch is quicker, totally reliant on quick hands and hardly any running until the last three players in the line. The emphasis is utilisation of space on the edges to ensure the spread, and the killer is the change in pace, the Boks never had a chance.
26 Nov 2012, 10:44 am
What credentials did ricardo loubscher bring to the boks. Absolutely nothing. In fact he has made the bok backline very boring. There is no link play or role swapping to create the element of the unknown. No crwativity. What I noticed is that our backline seemed to be playing according to strict instructions. Pienaar kicked away front foot possession and zane kirchner cannot run with the ball to save his life. We lack creativity
26 Nov 2012, 10:44 am
Goosen will be HMs first choice 10 next year.
Problem is, if he gets bad ball from the pack like our backline did this weekend, he wont dominate either.
Was it just me or did our pack really struggle to hold onto the ball and clear rucks to provide quick,, quality ball for the backline?
Been happening all tour. We get into good positions and lose the ball or it squirts out the side of the ruck etc.
The last time i saw a Bok pack really assert themselves at the breakdown was the first June test against the Poms.
Since then, its been slow, scrappy ball all season.
No backline can create/dominate with poor quality ball.
26 Nov 2012, 10:45 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-8: Don’t underestimate Naas mate, he was very tidy.
26 Nov 2012, 10:48 am
@puffnpass-12: Does anyone know what Ricardo’s attack philosophy is?
26 Nov 2012, 10:49 am
@John Galt-13:
very true
Bok accuracy at breakdown is pathetic
Slow ball
Also the act that we constantly take up the ball at the congested channel 1 soooo predictable. AB’s forwards pass within themselves varying where to hit it up.They use this ploy very well which creates momentum as teams cant flog one channel with defenders.AB ruck work is amazing.
26 Nov 2012, 10:50 am
I was one of many that was concerned about the compilation of the Bok squad at the start of the International season and was also one of those complaining of the “Blue Boks”. Meyer has admitted his mistakes and the changes in playing personnel showed this so i for one would like to give the coach my full support for next season
26 Nov 2012, 10:51 am
@mpundulu-15:
Isnt Johan van Graan SA “attack coach”???
26 Nov 2012, 10:51 am
Heyneke Meyer, a man of much anxiety, can relax.
Someone who can coach enjoyment out of the most appealing of games can now enjoy himself wherever it is the Meyer clan decamps to over the festive season.
To win all the games on tour is a massive achievement, even if the labour it took was massive too.
And Meyer can look back over his first year as Bok coach with some satisfaction: played 12, won seven, drawn two, lost three. The three in the last column were against Australia and New Zealand and the first of the two defeats by the All Blacks could easily have gone the other way.
He was lucky too.
Lucky he did not run into Ireland in the final game rather than the first. The Ireland who took Argentina to the Dublin cleaners on Saturday night were very different from the side that collapsed in the second half against the Boks.
The overwhelming impression, however, is that Meyer is a coach lacking in enterprise. As Joel Stransky has remarked, Meyer is a deeply conservative man. Just how conservative will be revealed in 2013.
He is a coach whose fear of losing is greater than his sense of adventure.
If his laboured efforts were not clear earlier in the year, they were on the tour. The huge squad he took along was bigger than the Springbok team of 1960-1961 – and that lot stayed for almost five months and played 10 times the number of games. Raymond Rhule and Elton Jantjies might feel their time on tour was wasted, even though it was said they were being introduced to the team “culture”. As Goebbels was once reported to have said: “Ven I hear ze word ‘culture’, I reach for my revolver.”
The more fortunate Boks who got more game time than cultural time are now in need of some R&R. A total tour tackle count is probably available but would make depressing reading. If rugby has come to this, then give me fridge-defrosting any time; at least I will have Nick Mallett for company.
Mallett – and Brendan Venter alongside him on TV during the England game – make up for the dull rugby. Mallett might occasionally get caught up in a maze of his own subordinate clauses but he usually makes sense, especially when he points out Nigel Owens’ shortcomings. The Welshman missed an offside try (for which we were all relieved) but was criminal in reffing the front row. England loosehead Alex Corbisiero got away with murder and poor Jannie du Plessis was made to look like the guilty party. And we all know what an innocent he is.
Venter has always been one of the most cerebral observers of the game. His observation on Saturday night that small players still have a role in this wonderful game will be welcomed by many, but not, I fear, by Meyer.
Will Jantjies ever get his chance? Will Gio Aplon ever get another chance?
In an interview at the weekend, Meyer, in anticipation of those injured Boks returning to the fray in 2013, eagerly mentioned only the big guys. Yes, of course, it will be good to have Andries Bekker, Frans Steyn and even Pierre Spies back. But he also needs players who can pick the gridlock that rugby’s defences have become.
Or is the running in rugby doomed to only chasing those interminable garryowens?
26 Nov 2012, 10:53 am
@mshiniwami-18: I thought Johan van Graan is the forwards coach, if he handles both attack and forwards portfolios, then what’s Ricardo’s role?
26 Nov 2012, 10:55 am
More and more hard-core supporters are loosing interest in watching this defence orientated gameplan week after week.
Will be interesting to see how long SARU’s patience lasts next year when we have half-empty stadiums during the home-leg of the Rugby Championship.
26 Nov 2012, 11:01 am
What’s intrigued me, is HMs use of the bench players which has been totally forwards based. He has not used his bench for impact or to change the pace of the game. The only changes he makes is to rest certain forwards after a period of time on the field whilst his backline remains intact.
26 Nov 2012, 11:02 am
Bok attack is so predictable the opposition knows 3 moves ahead what and where. Simple case of making sure defenders in the right areas. If they frustrate us for more than 3 phases, they know possession will be kicked to them
26 Nov 2012, 11:03 am
@mpundulu-20:
the Bulls and now the boks have adopted an American Football style of coaching structure it would appear.
Personally I like. Those critisizing Loubshcer…..please okes, this is south Africa and everything it implies. We will not see an all white coaching setup again.
meyer given the poor timing of his recruitment as well as every other half decent coach being tied up in contract at least chose a bloke he knows and has worked with. his credentials are largely irrelevent given the above mentioned criteria.
I imagine we will see short term backline consultants every so often.
26 Nov 2012, 11:07 am
@Bagel-2: agree fully – he hasnt dominated yet and yes he is a bit frail. If he keeps breaking down he´s not going to be much use.
26 Nov 2012, 11:09 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-24: However, van Graan is not flash as a coach either, Ricardo is not up to scratch at test level but neither is Van Graan. You can’t compare Ian Forster (attack) and Hansen (forwards) to Ricardo as attack and Van Graan as forwards coaches, there’s no comparison, the scopes of inquiry are decidedly different.
26 Nov 2012, 11:12 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-24: Personally I would hold Van Graan more responsible for this utter lack of ideas on attack – as he is the attack coach. We can’t really blame Loubsher as I am honestly not sure what his role really is. McFarland takes care of defense, Van Graan the attack, Koen of the kicking. What does Loubscher do – backline skills coaching?
26 Nov 2012, 11:14 am
@Slumtown-25: Teams have picked up that Goosen is tender, and they will exploit that, I may be proven wrong but I don’t see Goosen having a test career that’s not typified by a long list of injuries.
26 Nov 2012, 11:18 am
@Bokhoring-27: bloody hell is worse than we thought, so van Graan handles both attack and forwards, Ricardo is then effectively a paid intern in the bok coaching set up, straight up fronting by Meyer. At least at the stormers and province, Fleck with very little coaching experience is allowed to play with the backline.
26 Nov 2012, 11:20 am
@mpundulu-28: yeah – think he needs to seriously bulk up if he is to stand much chance.
26 Nov 2012, 11:21 am
Where is Poop face Poppa now? Always raging about our thuggish behaviour – this from fellow countrymen…
The New Zealand Herald’s Gregor Paul said: “Andrew Hore’s act of stupidity will have confirmed in every Northern Hemisphere mind the long-held notion of the All Blacks as perennial thugs.”
long-held notion of the All Blacks as perennial thugs.”
yep you read that right. lol
26 Nov 2012, 11:23 am
@Slumtown-30: That could be the only avenue he has left.
26 Nov 2012, 11:43 am
@Slumtown-30: No he doesn’t.
When he injured his shoulder during the S15 it was due to falling on the ball when scoring a try. Then he injured his knee ligaments (I think) in the test.
None of these injuries were due to lack of bulk.
If anything, he needs to work on his tackling technique. As long as the opposition feels it is weak, they will continue to target his channel.
26 Nov 2012, 11:53 am
@DumbSupporter-33: The central issue is that he is now officially tenderised, and at test level it’s not a good thing, ask Richard Kahui.
26 Nov 2012, 12:11 pm
The tone has changed. Keo has been slagging HM off all season and now he is trying to come across as a quiet voice of reason in the background.
The fact is that anybody with a brain could see that the Boks would have a quiet first year under HM. In fact HM has done tremendously well considering what went before him. A test side isn’t simply selected and turned into number one overnight. Keo and his cronies had far higher expectations than what were reasonable and this despite posting an article calling for calm at the start of the season.
Next year will be a breakthrough season for this young bok team and all the naysayers are starting to realise it and they will be claiming next year that they never lost the faith.
The Boks have never been a high scoring team. We do get the occassional big scoring win but by and large we have always played a forwards dominated game designed at subduing opponents.
Not a lot has to change for things to start going right for this Bok outfit. We just need to grease up the gears and soon we will be untouchable. To have expected that this year would have been moronic.
26 Nov 2012, 12:20 pm
@DEE DAH-35: untouchable? You mean like the All Blacks?! This should be interesting, look forward to watching those springboks, when they arrive………
26 Nov 2012, 12:29 pm
Mark, I don’t quite get the grip here.
“Game Plan Needs More Balance”
The game plan is either in a state of equilibrium or not.
It needs a balance of the various fassets or play or there is a balance between the various fassets of play.
How can something be more balanced?
It could be interpreted that there is a balance, but it needs to be fine tuned.
If that is the case then all the articles posted here since HM took over and from before are a lot of hog wash. Of no significance at all.
Everyone has been advocating for more interplay between front and back. To strike a balance.
Not “more balance”. (Maybe Einstein will be able to explain the concept of “more balance” But since he is not around, maybe don’t use the term)
26 Nov 2012, 12:34 pm
@cuntlyn-37:
More of a balance. Perhaps?
26 Nov 2012, 12:35 pm
We need Eddie Jones Back. Attack Coach needs to be an Ozzie, if we are to achieve anything. We have the natural talent available. We defend very well, but guys need to be taught some “expansive know-how”!!
26 Nov 2012, 12:37 pm
@DEE DAH-35: Unfortunately it rarely happens that when the top 4 teams play one pack can simply pound the other pack into submission. The other teams have forwards just as big and just as tough as ours.
26 Nov 2012, 13:02 pm
This what Clive Woodward said about Saturday’s match.
Owen Farrell openly disagreed with the decision and urged Robshaw to kick for the corner – but Woodward insisted that was no time to question the
captain’s orders.
‘It wasn’t a time for big debate,’ Woodward told the Sportsweek programme on BBC Radio Five live.
‘If he goes for goal, you have to do that kick within about 10 or 15 seconds. So if they’d done it very quickly, it absolutely is the right decision.
‘Also, if I’m brutally honest, I don’t think England really looked like scoring a try against South Africa.
26 Nov 2012, 13:25 pm
@DEE DAH-35:
Dee Dah, most bloggers campaigned for a team like we’ve seen on the EOYT since the very 1st test against England earlier this year.
Granted, players like Bissie, Beast, Bekker, and Frans (not my personal choice) are now injured. Chuck in a fetcher like Brussow or Flo and he would’ve had the support of most rugby lovers from the start. HM is solely responsible for alienating Bok supporters from him with his team selections and it is up to him to win them over again. He is starting to move in that direction but still has a long way to go.
I’m almost sure that HM already has his team for the 1st test next year penned down. Unfortunately for some players, their form in the S15 will mean absolutely nothing.
26 Nov 2012, 13:26 pm
I’m not a coach and I try and learn more from the regular sensible comments here.
How difficult can it be to teach the top 30 rugby players in South Africa to:
Run into space?
Off load in the tackle?
Attack the rucks properly?
Is it not simply part of coaching? Why has it been categorised separately and not interactively? Should dove tail.
I can understand that the forwards need to sort out the front before attack wide. Or kick for safety. But, what’s the point if the situation for attacking wide or from just broken play arise and no one knows how to do it properly? Result just crash the ball or kick it away.
Do you bright sparks agree all the skills sets can be coached in one season. And next season it will be better. And so on and so on. Its an organic process of growth.
26 Nov 2012, 13:30 pm
Well done Faf and the rest of the boys.
Salvaging a draw from the situation that we were in at tea yesterday, must go down as one of the greatest fight backs by a SA cricket team ever.
Now take this psychological momentum into the next test and win it for us.
26 Nov 2012, 13:46 pm
@cuntlyn-43:
You mean to say that the 30 top rugby players in the country DON’T know how to:
“Run into space?
Off load in the tackle?
Attack the rucks properly?”
They should enter the Bok set up knowing all that already imo. I actually believe they do but that it is the game plan of the coach that discourages them from doing all that. I mean, some of them are doing it when they play for their franchises if that is the game plan there.
26 Nov 2012, 14:10 pm
@nama1-45:
Generally it’s a matter of running into half gaps whilst being aware of support runners and carrying the ball in such a way that it can be offloaded. It’s the last two that our players fail at.
26 Nov 2012, 14:33 pm
@David-46:
That also means that the support runner must run lines to be close to the ball carrier in case he needs to off load. (Think Kahui? running on the shoulder of SBW) last year.
Our players do not seem to run the correct lines in support of the ball carrier. The only guys I can think of who do that well is Aplon and Ebersohn (the center) from the Cheetahs. I have an idea that their time with the Bok 7′s team contributed a great deal with their vision and support.
26 Nov 2012, 14:39 pm
@Bouts-6: I agree with your views of Goosen, but Lambie will not make it as an international 12, nor Rhule as a international 13 – wing yes.
26 Nov 2012, 14:51 pm
@nama1-47: Would not actually mind Paul Treu involved as a consultant to the Boks. I know 7′s is very different to the 15 man code, but I still think he could add value as a different point of view
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